Baby Steps
by Aleauxvander
Summary: Because parenthood is a journey and only Artemis can make it seem like a triathlon. Which, it turns out, it is. Artemis/Holly and, of course, Ariciah.
1. Chapter 1

**I am not sure how many chapters this will have, only that it will span months during the pregnancy to years after. I just love Ariciah so I decided to go with her. Show her how to teach her parent's humility, teach them how to step away from the world-saving and constant work and turn their attentions to something greater and more important.**

**The usual disclaimer applies.**

**I have no beta so that should reflect in the quality. Many apologies.**

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><p>Summary: Because parenthood is a journey and only Artemis can make it seem like a triathlon. Which, it turns out, it is. ArtemisHolly and, of course, Ariciah.

**Title: Baby Steps**

_By: AleauxVander B.D_

_Part 1_

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><p><em>A baby will make love stronger, days shorter, nights longer, bankroll smaller, home happier, clothes shabbier, the past forgotten, and the future worth living for. -<strong>Anonymous<strong>_

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><p>Holly's expression mirrored something Artemis had seen on the television before, once when he was coerced into sitting through three hours of inane, sensationalized, media-vomit with both his brothers (who claimed this program they were watching was worth his time); a cross between looking completely confused as to how it is that a man his age and with his brain capacity was unable to do something she deemed so 'simple' and looking exasperated and close to hitting him over the head (if she could reach from her perch on the bed) with a stuffed pillow.<p>

"Its not rocket science, Artemis." She drawled, her legs crossed and dangling over the edge of the bed on the raised platform it stood on in their room. She didn't even look up at his progress, only sat there, buffing her short, well kept nails, keeping them manicured and manageable for her line of work.

She looked better today, more rested than she had in the past weeks, her hair, grown out through the pregnancy and left to sway just below her shoulders, dark skin marred with faint lines of deep wounds and scars throughout her years in the LEP and her midsection, still somewhat padded, since the delivery.

She could sit there, of course, and dictate to him that it was simple and it was hardly astrophysics, because she had done it enough times to understand the workings of this… thing.

Holding the seven month old around her small waist, holding her above the changing table and looking left and right, turning her left and right, horizontally and diagonally, did little in helping him how the hell to put that thing on her. It sat there, mocking him with its layers and super absorbency.

"How do you put that thing on her?" he asked using a free hand to poke at it.

His wife rolled her eyes, tucking hair behind her ears and leveled him with a bored look.

"I'm sure the package comes with directions." She said in reply, "Read it." Then she pointed her nail file at Ariciah who stared adoringly at her father as she made wet noises with her lips and gurgled every time his eyes met hers. "By the way, I fed her not too long ago. Turning her this way and that way isn't the smartest thing."

Artemis turned his gaze from Holly back to their daughter who reached chubby, inquisitive fingers out to squeeze the nearest thing she could; which happened to be his nose.

"Is there some way to bypass this step?" he asked, ignoring Holly's snort of laughter behind him. "I'm serious. This is tedious and, frankly, disgusting."

"Imagine how your parents felt, doing this for the past few months while we lounged on our backsides."

Artemis finally had the squirming, dark haired mass on her back, holding her tiny ankles together while he lifted her back off the padded surface to wipe away whatever mess was there with the scented baby wipes and when he was done, lifted the naked baby into his arms and crossed the room to sit next to his wife.

"We we're lounging about." He said, "You were recovering. It was a horribly delivery."

Holly lifted her brows comically, "Yeah, I was there." She joked, and then ran her hands along his thigh when he narrowed eyes at her playful comment. "Yes, Artemis, it wasn't the greatest day of our lives, but the outcome was amazing." She said quietly, smoothing Ariciah's monstrous hair down with a smile. "Besides, _you_ just lounged about. I was on actual bed rest."

He set Ares down on his lap, eased her fragile spine against her stomach and unconsciously jogged his leg at intervals, rocking her off to sleep.

"I was there for moral support."

Mismatched eyes set in a dark face stared him down.

"You ate most of my food, slept in my bed and stole my covers. Good load of support you were." She said dryly.

He grinned at her and said "I do try."

Laughing through her words, Holly pointed at the naked child.

"Try a bit harder. The child is still naked. You want her to catch a cold? Go get her dressed."

Artemis picked her up into his arms, turning her to face him and couldn't help but smile, completely besotted at the dimpled smile their daughter gave him.

"Why restrict her in those horrible diapers. They can't be comfortable."

Holly inched away from him down the side of the bed and leaned back against the head board comfortably as she watched the show.

"Because she does things like—" she pointed, " _that_."

Artemis heard it before he saw it, the wet sound of something hitting the tiled ground and then the unmistakable feel of something, liquid and wet, soiling his trousers.

Holly who was doing nothing more than laughing her ass off further away in the mammoth bed, holding up his smart phone to take photographs, shook her head as she wiped away tears and Artemis held Ariciah away from him and the bed before she did further damage.

"Look what you've done." He said, sounding more distraught than angry, staring at the child amazed because, even now, the fountain of urine hadn't ended. "And you're still at it!"

"Take her to the bathroom if it helps." Holly said between constricting peels of laughter.

"And leave a trail all over the floor? What are you, mad- Jesus, she's still at it? What did you give her to drink, the Atlantic?" He stood, stepped over the pool at the foot of the bed, ignored his wife's raucous laughter, and set the baby on the floor not far away.

"Maybe if I leave her there she will assimilate and fend for herself."

He felt the heavy weight of his wife's glare on his shoulder before he even turned to appease her, "I was joking." He said. "I need to get her cleaned up and get myself cleaned up in the process." He paused for a moment and it occurred to him that the smell wasn't permeating from the baby or from the ground, but from him. He nearly gagged.

"I smell horrible."

"Welcome to parenthood in which we eat whatever they hand to us and we spend more time worrying about their safety than our own."

Artemis watched Ares, sitting up on her own, playing around in the linen on the lower shelves of the changing table, picking up things, throwing them about or putting them in her mouth. For a moment, Ares reached for a large toy, about the size of her head, shaped like an apple, and tried to gnaw on it from the sides of her mouth.

She looked up at them, offered the plastic fruit to them and when both shook their heads, put it back to her mouth and continued.

The room, from his organized view point, was a mess, but Ares was happy.

Artemis looked over at Holly, sitting back against the head board, a blanket thrown over her feet and her eyes soft, staring at the child that nearly took her life and he could feel what she felt, this griping love for their beautiful daughter and the crippling fear that whatever they did, their lifestyle, whatever they provided, wouldn't be enough. The fears of a parent, his mother had said.

"_Do they ever go away_?" Artemis had asked his mother. She had smiled fondly at him and kissed Ariciah's small, ill face.

"_Yes_," she answered, "_maybe when you die_. _Even then, you worry about how they will manage your death_."

"She is a handful." Artemis said softly, "And we want another?"

"Yup."

He nearly wept. But it was good. Her toddler years would soon fly by and he had Holly, he had his family and he had Ariciah. They would be fine.

"I can't even change her." He complained.

Regardless of his smell and whatever waste mater he was covered in, Holly patted his hand and reached up to kiss his cheek.

"I'll teach you." She said, and then wrinkled her nose. "Yeah…you stink, so….go. Take your child with you and don't return until you're clean. Better yet, I'll leave. I'll be in the guest room until all this—" she waved her hands to encompass the room and the two of them, "— is clean."

She picked up the tablet Artemis used when in bed, tucked it under her arm to do some paper work while away, and danced out of the room waving, with her parting words of, "Have fun!"

Before he even approached her, Ariciah had her arms extended towards him, small fingers clenching and releasing anxiously for him, her face contorted in confusion and subtle tears.

He picked her up before she could fuss and instantly, she smiled, cuddling into his arms.

"Alright, love," he said quietly, rocking her as he approached the bathroom and on his way, rang someone up to have the room cleaned, "this shouldn't be so hard."

The child giggled.

How wrong he was.

.: Tsuzuku:.

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><p><strong>Reviews would be delightful. Tell me what you think of the idea and if I should continue or no.<strong>

**Time for University! So much to prepare, so little time. But I must write. It keeps me sane.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Usual disclaimer applies.**

**I am waiting for hell to break loose, so hey, why not write? Keep in mind, there is no chronological order to these shorts. Some will be before Ares is born, some will be during and some after.**

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><p>Summary: Because parenthood is a journey and only Artemis can make it seem like a triathlon. Which, it turns out, it is. ArtemisHolly and, of course, Ariciah.

**Title: Baby Steps**

_By: AleauxVander B.D_

_Part 2_

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><p><em>Insanity is hereditary - you get it from your kids.-Sam Levenson.<em>

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><p>Because Angeline fowl normally got her way, she threw the long awaited garden party that April and reluctantly, Artemis had to attend.<p>

Holly, being the horrible person she was, fled.

"I can't make an appearance." She said the morning of said affair "I am supposed to be the ailing mother, remember? Bed ridden? Frail even before pregnancy" she reminded him, "I can't exactly show up looking decidedly non-human and decidedly healthy."

Which left Artemis with Ares and 100 guests who couldn't get enough of her.

The problem was, that one moment, he handed her over to Myles to take her up to the house to have Holly keep her and the next moment his brother was telling him that the 9 month old was AWOL.

Artemis blanched.

"What?"

Myles looked surprisingly calm for someone who was seconds away from loosing his neck.

"I gave her to Beck to take upstairs."

Artemis went to find Beckett.

"I gave her to mum."

Angeline.

"I gave her to your father."

Artemis Fowl Senior pointed in Butler's direction before Artemis could even step near to him.

Butler pointed to Juliet, who pointed to Mrs. Lafayette, who pointed to the French couple from Billings and Harrison, then to the American senator who he had been introduced to that morning, then to the waiter, then to the _valet ("What? Why does the valet have my- oh never mind.")_, then to the kind old lady sitting by herself next to the garden entrance.

She smiled kindly at him as she spoke.

"I found her wobbling about and she was so taken with the flowers, I didn't have the heart to move her."

Sitting in the freshly turned soil of spring, her white dress covered in mud and dirt and pale, unblemished skin brown, Ariciah had her pink tongue stuck out as she concentrated on her probing fingers in the soil.

She pulled up an earthworm.

Artemis felt then what he heard his mother describe to him many times in many ways years ago. The rush of relief so great, knowing that your child is alright, it makes your knees week.

Behind him, cameras went off and women cooed.

He took off his jacket, rolled up his sleeves and picked her up.

The child grinned and showed him her earthworm.

"Wum." She said, trying to say 'worm' and he couldn't help but smile back.

He nodded, "Worm." He said.

She smeared mud down his nose and then kissed his cheek.

"Dah dah." She kissed him again.

Artemis set her back in the mud, pulled up a chair, and sat, disheveled, dirty but calm, and watched her play among the roses and in the mud.

Mrs Freeman, who had mothered 3 children, all ill mannered and spoiled, inched closer and gave him a scandalized look.

"She is making such a mess! And her dress...its ruined."

Artemis didn't take his eyes off of Ares and as if sensing her father's gaze, looked up, her hair coming undone from its small braid and framing her chubby face, waved.

He waved back, as did most everyone staring.

"She is safe, Missus Freeman." he said cordially if not a bit tersely, "there is no price for that. The dress, the garden, the flowers, can all be replaced. She is priceless."

He watched her struggle to her feet, grasping the low lying brick wall fencing in the garden and inched her way over to him. Artemis smiled and when she finally fell into his outstretched arms, one shoe missing, her dress ruined, her hair dirty and her face bright and happy, he kissed her messy cheek as he lifted her to his lap, worm and all, before calling Beckett over to fetch him a jar from the kitchen for her worm.

.: Tsuzuku:.

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><p><strong>If I have not replied to your reviews for the previous chapter, something must be wrong...or something is wrong with my phone which seems to selective in the reviews it allows me to view. Ideas and suggestions are welcome, though I have a bank load of them from child hood experiences and friends. Reviews are also very welcome and shall be rewarded with cookies and cats with rainbows coming out of their asses.<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**I Disclaim!**

**My Beta is **_Ru-Doragon _**and she makes me feel bad for writing sad-baby-is-sick stuff so they shall be numbered :)**

**And she rocks.**

**Summer, Y U NO Longer? Anyone else out there avoiding registering for courses like I am? Is it bad that I am waiting for till the last minute? Yes? No. Okay.**

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><p>Summary: Because parenthood is a journey and only Artemis can make it seem like a triathlon. Which, it turns out, it is. ArtemisHolly and, of course, Ariciah.

**Title: Baby Steps**

_By: AleauxVander B.D_

_Part 3_

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><p><em>We never know the love of our parents for us until we have become parents. ~ <em>**Henry Ward Beecher.**

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><p>She felt weak enough for the pain to deter her from moving but the room was silent, eerily so, and she was <em>sure<em> she heard Ariciah crying.

Holly pulled herself from the bed, feeling her muscles whimper under the strain and felt her feet wobble beneath her. She gripped the side of the bed, made her way off the platform and down unto the cool hard wood floor, holding on to whatever furniture she encountered on the way.

Her chest clenched painfully, not an emotional response, but a physical response to the strain on her body and for a moment, Holly held unto the wall out side the nursery, breathing steadily, blinking pain out of her vision as she tried not to cry out.

She wanted nothing more than to collapse, let the endless sleep heal her but Ariciah had cried; a minute ago? 5 minutes? An Hour? Holly wasn't certain of when but her daughter had cried, soft, robust coughs of a sick child and whimpers in another language for her mother.

Holly pulled the robe securely around her and straightened up, felt her spine twinge painfully and she bit her lip and entered the nursery regardless.

And she stopped.

The room was still cloaked in darkness and she wound have missed them completely if Artemis' hadn't worn a white t-shirt to bed and if their beautiful, magically child, didn't possess some inner incandescence that made her pale skin luminous in the dark.

The windows were closed and the drapes drawn but the sky light in the centre of the ceiling let in the little illumination the stars provided.

Lying on his back on the carpeted floor of the nursery, his head pillowed on one of the travelling bags they stored Ariciah's necessities in, Artemis slept and Ares, eyes shuttered and dark lashes sweeping her cheeks, had her face pillowed on her father's chest, a tiny fist grasping his shirt, drooling into the fabric.

Holly sank .boneless, into a chair by the door and watched them, watched Ares' tiny frame shake as she let out a wet, disconcerting cough, and watched Artemis pull her closer, one hand beneath he fabric of her nigh shirt and the other holding her up against him.

His eyes opened then, sudden and aware, and found hers.

"Her fever broke around 2 am." His voice was gravely with sleep and weariness when he whispered the words to her.

Holly breathed a sigh of relief and felt a few pounds lighter.

"Good." She said quietly and leaned back into the chair, curling her feet beneath her and stared out the window.

Knowing she wouldn't leave, Artemis reached up and pulled down a blanket form the pile of linen on the window seat and threw it over Ares, he then closed his eyes, and slept.

.: Tsuzuku:.

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><p><strong>School Sucks.<strong>

**Thank you greatly for the reviews and if it is that I haven't replied to your review, it means that my phone is being as prick and or you have removed private messaging which makes replying impossible (because Fanfiction being the **_brilliant _**people they are, set up the reply URL as the Private Messages URL) or you submitted it Anonymously. Never the less, your support is great and I look forward to hearing from you again.**

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